the audit

Bloomberg on Madoff’s Auditor

Bloomberg does some basic legwork on the Bernard Madoff scandal and gets some great color out of it. One of the red flags some investors saw...
December 15, 2008

Bloomberg does some basic legwork on the Bernard Madoff scandal and gets some great color out of it. One of the red flags some investors saw early was that this fund, which apparently had more than $50 billion in investments, was audited out of a 200-square-foot office in the suburbs of New York.

A woman who works in a nearby office, who didn’t want to be identified, said Friehling doesn’t come to the office regularly. When he does, he is the only person there.

Another woman in a nearby office, Leslie Cousar, said the man who comes to the auditor’s office does so for 10-to-15 minute periods, and wears tight pants and tie-dyed shirts. Cousar said she never saw anyone else going to the office during the day, but at about 5:30 p.m., another man would show up and use the location.

“He’s in and out of there,” Cousar said.

I’m sure he was.

Ryan Chittum is a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and deputy editor of The Audit, CJR’s business section. If you see notable business journalism, give him a heads-up at rc2538@columbia.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @ryanchittum.